Alumni News

Chronogram features Brian Nice ’84 (professional photographic illustration)

A multidisciplinary contingent of RIT faculty, students and alumni is creating awareness and innovative design solutions to improve the quality of medical care and education for some of the most vulnerable in Central America.

Associate Professor Marcos Esterman and several RIT senior engineering students are on a mission to empower citizens of Cali, Colombia, through cutting-edge technology including solar-powered 3D printers and aquaponics.

Elephant and rhino poachers in South Africa can run, but they can’t hide from drones. An imaging system created by a team led by Elizabeth Bondi ’16 automatically detects illegal hunters infiltrating national parks at night. Bondi’s deep learning system alerts the monitoring team who notifies park rangers or law enforcement of a potential threat to the animals under their protection.

Entrepreneur David Rodriguez ’92 (MBA) is doing his part to provide new clean energy solutions to the nearly 3.4 million residents of Puerto Rico who live in the constant presence of destructive tropical storms and hurricanes.

When he was in high school, Josh Geise, a fifth-year computing security student, was involved in a program that donated refurbished computers to local families. To continue his work in computer refurbishment and help increase computer accessibility in the Rochester area, Geise and friend Brian Martens ’18 started their own nonprofit organization that donates refurbished computers to people in need.

As a graduate student in Ghana, Brenda Abu witnessed the toll of anemia, a condition that afflicts as many as 70 percent of the children and 45 percent of the women in that West African nation. Her experiences convinced Abu to pursue a career researching nutrition, specifically looking for ways to reduce anemia in mothers and their children.

RIT alumni, students, faculty and staff are using their education and skills to make the world a better place. Here are eight of their stories.

Hamad Ghazle left war-torn Lebanon on a scholarship to Georgetown University in the 1980s. Within a year, he transferred to RIT to study ultrasound. He graduated with his BS in 1988 and returned in 1994 to lead the program. Since then, Ghazle has graduated hundreds of sonography students, helping them navigate the profession that means so much to him.

Launched in 2012, the RIT Venture Fund invests in early-stage, high-growth companies founded by students, faculty, staff, alumni and RIT Venture Creations client companies in fields that complement RIT’s core academic competencies. From block chain and clean-energy technology to telecommunications, manufacturing and game development, the Venture Fund looks to create industry diversity and a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Shortly after Marcy (Thurman) Brenner ’87 (new media marketing) arrived at RIT in the fall of 1984, she caught a glimpse of Chris Brenner ’87 (graphic design) skateboarding down the Quarter Mile. They later learned they lived on the same floor in Community Service Clubhouse. 

When Aaron Bailey and Tigran Vardanyan restyled a shoulder rest for their own violins, little did they know their simple design, made in Bailey’s home workshop, would be sought by musicians around the world.